Description: With the 2015 2016 NHL season about to start seemed like a good idea to see what sports psychologists have had to say recently about the development of young hockey players. So, here’s the question; What sorts of people or environmental events influence the development of positive or negative behaviours among young hockey players. In other words where does unsportsmanlike behaviour come from?.

You can think of sportsmanship is essentially an evolving questions of ethics. A big part of learning sportsmanlike or unsportsmanlike behaviour involves learning more than the behaviours themselves, and includes the development of positive attitudes towards how one’s competes when playing sports like hockey. The articles linked above in reference below examine the question of whether unsportsmanlike behaviour amongst young hockey players is simply a part of the game, part of the individual differences that make up the range of players within the game, or influenced by coaches, parents, teammates or others. Pick one or two of the articles and in reading through them see what you can come up with in the way of answers to the question of how unsportsmanlike players are made or perhaps more appropriately how unsportsmanlike behaviour is encouraged.

Questions for Discussion:

Is unsportsmanlike behaviour among young hockey players simply a reflection of individual differences that were there prior to the players lacing up for the first time raises something that’s learned from parents, coaches, and others?

What are the sorts of things that parents, coaches, and young players themselves could or should do to encourage the development of sportsmanlike play in hockey?

Who should be responsible for managing the psychological growth and development of young hockey players?